Battery Upgrades

[dave&ginny]

Well my batteries came in yesterday so I spent today doing the swap. As you can see from the pictures the 4 250 AH FullRiver batteries do fit in the original battery tray. I spent a good deal of time removing the battery tray and cleaning all the corrosion off off of it. I used a angle grinder to remove most of it and then I repainted the surfaces.

I set the charger to AGM but is there more I have to do to the charging system?

Again, I appreciate all the help you guys have given me as I worked through this process.

[nothermark]

What I find interesting is the charge times quoted. Most of what I see says not to charge faster than 20% of capacity so if we really are setting charging to start at the 50% discharge rate 2 hours will maybe get about to the end of the bulk charge phase. Might not too. I'd try a 10 hour generator run or plugging into shore power to let everything come fully up to charge then check the voltage after an hour or more to let the surface charge deplete. Then go on battery and see how long they last. If that works extend the charging time to at least 3 or 4 hours.

[757driver]

Originally Posted by dave&ginny

Well my batteries came in yesterday so I spent today doing the swap. As you can see from the pictures the 4 250 AH FullRiver batteries do fit in the original battery tray. I spent a good deal of time removing the battery tray and cleaning all the corrosion off off of it. I used a angle grinder to remove most of it and then I repainted the surfaces.

I set the charger to AGM but is there more I have to do to the charging system?

Again, I appreciate all the help you guys have given me as I worked through this process.

Dave,

Very nice install. According to Fullriver these batteries should be Bulk/Absorb at 14.7v and Float at 13.6v so the AGM settings will not quite get you to where you should be. I will send you the Custom settings for the inverter panel.

[dave&ginny]

Someone sent me a message asking to send them a picture of the batteries wired. I couldn't send a picture through the PM so here it is. I hope it helps

[Matt D]

Dave, nice work and congrats on working through that necessary task.

It took me a while to understand what Entegra did with the cabling.

It's interesting to see how they used 2 Pos. and 2 Neg. leads to the house. Electrically speaking, they could have done the same job with just one lead and a slightly different configuration, but it's hard to argue with excess wire capacity.

Again, nice work.

-Matt

[voltdoc]

Originally Posted by Matt D

Dave, nice work and congrats on working through that necessary task.

It took me a while to understand what Entegra did with the cabling.

It's interesting to see how they used 2 Pos. and 2 Neg. leads to the house. Electrically speaking, they could have done the same job with just one lead and a slightly different configuration, but it's hard to argue with excess wire capacity.

Again, nice work.

-Matt

Isn't one set of heavy cables for the inverter(s) and the other to the house? Makes sense to me to do it that way, otherwise additional tie point is required and heavier cable from that tie point to the batteries.

[Fattman-Litlboy]

Well, I've decided to purchase 8 new batteries for my 2015 Anthem 44B, but as Brobox previously stated, he does not believe the Fullriver dc250-6 will fit. There seems to be sufficient clearance on the bottom tray, but the height limitation on the top tray may pose a problem. The height to the top of the M8 terminal is 272mm or 10.71inch. The original Discover batteries had a height of 10.71in, but the terminal is a threaded stud terminal (DT), and only has about 1/4in clearance to the top of the battery tray opening on the top rack. So, my question is, has anyone with an older (2015) classic Anthem 44b installed these dc250-6 batteries? The dc224-6 batteries will definitely fit, but they have 26AHs capacity less at the 20hr rate. They are 9.88-in high. I'll be in Middlebury next week, so maybe I'll be able to find batteries there. Worldwide Battery is a supplier of Fullriver in Elkhart. Calling them tomorrow. Wish me luck, but if anyone has first-hand knowledge of installing the dc250 on a 2015 Anthem, let me know. Thanks.

[krudawg]

Originally Posted by dave&ginny

Well my batteries came in yesterday so I spent today doing the swap. As you can see from the pictures the 4 250 AH FullRiver batteries do fit in the original battery tray. I spent a good deal of time removing the battery tray and cleaning all the corrosion off off of it. I used a angle grinder to remove most of it and then I repainted the surfaces.

I set the charger to AGM but is there more I have to do to the charging system?

Again, I appreciate all the help you guys have given me as I worked through this process.

Very clean look. You wanna come over and do mine? Seriously, Nice job!

[Fattman-Litlboy]

Krudawg, you only put in 4? Why not all 8. And it looks like it was on the lower tray where you have plenty of height clearance on the tray. The top tray has limited space. Please provide more details. Thanks.

[MRUSA14]

He has an Aspire which only has four batteries, not 8 like the Anthem and Cornerstone.

I am about to replace my dying AGM's with Lifelines. They are the best you can get in an AGM, and I want to do this only once.

[royals1212]

Dave&Ginny how much weight did the Full River batteries add over the original US Batteries?

[gizmo123316]

Marc, let me know how you make out with the new batteries. I have to change mine pretty soon too, and want to put that brand in also.

[1thomason]

I just replaced my battries with Fullriver DC224-6 Last week we dry camped last week quite hours were 10 to 8am In the morning I make coffee using the Inverter at 8 am in the morning Inverters read 12.1 and 11.9 that evening we did not run the generator enough since its been 12.2 and 12. I purchased the batterys though Hodgson Corp. second time I used this company they are located in AZ. you contact them they arrange for you to pick up your battries in your location.
Since you are buying from AZ as you are out of AZ. theres no sales tax picked up my Fullrivers in Portland OR. no sales tax in OR. but the price was better than I could find 240.00

[Fattman-Litlboy]

We've decided to order Lifeline batteries,
P/N: GPL-4ct, which come with a 5yr warranty, compared to 2yr with Fullriver DC224. Lifeline is used by the US Coast Guard, and pass rigorous Mil-Std testing. I'll pay the extra for the quality, reliability, and warranty.
http://lifelinebatteries.com/product...eries/gpl-4ct/